Session 18

The party:

• Ploikal, MU4 (TM)
• Pholgon, F3 (MG)
• Kaplull, T1 (HB)
• Gorakal, T4 (JH)
• Zara, noncombatant
• Razi & Gani, heavy footmen

Treasure:

• 20 GP
• Platinum machine innards (60 GP)
• Four identical silver idols of a humanoid figure in lotus pose (4×145 SP)
• Laser Crossbow?

XP: 780.

Casualties: None!

Report:

• It has been 29 weeks since the previous adventure.
• The situation in town after the events of session 17, in which the provisioner Aralal was killed:
  • The village’s burghers are upset with Count Egan. They pay taxes, and he and his soldiers are supposed to keep them safe.
  • As a result, town watch now patrols the streets day and night, stopping any strangers and investigating any suspicious goings-on.
  • Some poor sods from Foreign Parts, four green men, were strung up as the apparent perpetrators.
  • Non-orange men are generally treated with increased suspicion.
  • Raidain, a local orange man, has taken over Aralal’s Emporium. He claims Aralal was a nephew. He is less capable than the previous provisioner. Raidain cannot identify items and does not stock curios.
  • The temple is in disarray. The head priest has become senile, and his acolytes are now listless middle-aged men who cannot even work miracles anymore. The villagers believe it has become cursed and have stopped worshipping at it, to the great concern of the ruling elites. They whisper some other cult may have replaced it, centered around the mysterious farmer’s guild hall.
• They hire fresh retainers and buy some rations.
• They are a bit cash-strapped.
• Travel without incident to the Balok.
• Enter through the main entrance.
• Carefully move through the entrance hall and down the hallway to the south.
• Pick the lock on a door to the east and enter a room divided by wooden gates.
• Find a secret door to the south.
• Enter a room with broken machinery.
• They manage to surprise and dispatch two large spiders that were lurking there.
• Remove the gold pieces that the creatures had collected in their webs.
• Move through an archway to the adjacent room with intact machinery.
• Carefully open the machine without breaking glassware parts. Remove platinum innards.
• Move through a secret door heading west.
• Remove a makeshift alarm (string with cutlery). Head down the stairs.
• At the bottom, spot tripwire.
• Head back up. They disarm a trap with help from an arrow with a cord tied to it.
• A huge bone tomahawk swings from the ceiling.
• Enter a room with a desk and chairs.
• Head into a long hallway leading south.
• A pack of bonecrusher dogs approaches them.
• A brief, fierce fight leads to the defeat of the dogs.
• Continue down the hallway; at the end, enter a large storage room with many shelves, sacks, and crates.
• Search the room and find four silver idols of humanoid in lotus pose and an odd-looking crossbow without string.
• Look into the room to the north, and spot a trio of bearded pigs rooting through fungus patches.
• They leave again before they are spotted.